1. Living under the shadows of martial law had never been easy. The martial reign of Ferdinand Marcos lasted from September 21, 1972 to February 25, 1986. As the Filipinos celebrate the most peaceful revolution on earth on February 25, 1986, when then dictator Ferdinand Marcos was booted out from office by the sheer number of Filipinos who went to the streets without arms but bearing only bibles, rosaries, and flowers,it is but fitting to recall the dark days in our country. Looking back in history, and not an amnesia of past events, is the best safeguard that democracy would not be snatched away again. There is a cogent need for remembrance of the dark period especially with the spate of extra-judicial killing of militants and critical media men under the Arroyo administration.
2. I was 3rd year college when I became editor-in-chief of the CRUSADER, the official student publication of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan. That was school year 1984-1985. Rey Gomez, my features editor, decided to spend our semestral break in Libas, Jabonga, Agusan del Norte, my birthplace. The place was rebel infested then. So we wanted to have a feel of the rural situation for our write-up. On our way however, the public utility vehicle we were riding was stopped in one of the military checkpoints in Ampayon, a barangay just 15 kilometers away from Butuan City in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. All passengers were frisked. We were asked for any identification card or a residence certificate, but we had none. The vehicle was allowed to go but the two of us were detained in the checkpoint. When it was nearing night, I decided to use my thespian skill , otherwise, we would have become mere statistics along with the other victims of extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the military. I pleaded to a certain Capt. Ruaya that he should let us go because my grandfather died, so went my alibi. He did not believe me at first, but I shed a tear so he let us run away which we did, fearing that bullets might be following us.
In a twist of fate , sometime in 1997, a certain Capt. Ruaya came to our law firm in Butuan City for a legal consultation. He was the respondent in an administrative case. Immediately, I told him if he recognized me, but he shook his head. I told him of the incident, and I advised him to seek another lawyer lest I might be tainted with bias.
3. The killings, and ham-letting of villages were knocking at the doorsteps of the university gates. Student leadership meant social involvement. The economy was bad. Human rights abuses were rampant. Student leaders simply had to be militants. I decided to lead the students in Cagayan de Oro to rallies, pickets, and civil disobedience. The student paper then had a circulation of about 6,000 per issue, the biggest in Cagayan de Oro. The school paper was my medium. I networked with the other editors of school publications to organize the students into protest actions. I recall that on November 1985, for the first time since the proclamation of Martial Law on September 21, 1972, students of our school went outside the gates, and proceeded to other schools where other students were waiting to join us. That was the start of rallies that culminated on February 22, 1986, the last rally I led and participated. Three days after, on February 25, 1986, Marcos fled the country.
Another twist of fate though deserves mentioning. When I joined the fraternity in the College of Law, a brother who is already a major in the police, told me that my picture was one of those posted, that whenever they decided to "salvage" (a misnomer for killing militants), they take a picture from those posted. The next day, the body would be found somewhere.
4. It was sometime in October 1985 when I joined the journalism seminar in Davao City sponsored by the College Editor's Guild of the Philippines, said to be a front of the communist party. I arrived in the University of Mindanao, Davao City at three in the afternoon. But the host told me that we had to wait for the other delegates from Manila, particularly Ateneo de Manila. It was already around 9:00 o'clock in the evening when we were herded into a bus bound for the seminar site. On our way, we were stopped by the men in uniforms whom I knew later on to be communists guerrillas. When we arrived at the seminar site, we were greeted with staccato bursts of gunfire. I realized that we were already in the rebel's lair. The seminar was a mix of journalism and indoctrination.
5. For the school year 1986-1987, I was already enrolled in the College of law. My staff in the Crusader convinced me to take the editorial exam again so that I would remain as editor but they would do all the odd jobs while I concentrate in my law studies. My role then would be merely supervisory. I did continue as editor and entrusted the odd duties to my staff. But when the first issue for that school year came out, somebody inserted in the school paper a manifesto of the Kilusang Kabataan, the communist arm for the youth, calling for the bearing of arms. I resigned and had the whole thing investigated. It turned out that one of my section editors was a member of the communist movement and he went into hiding. I have not heard of him since then.
6. I was invited, urged, and cajoled by the militant left to join the movement. But I had not and will never be convinced with communist ideology. I have read and thoroughly studied the predecessors of Karl Marx. I understood the strength of the social analysis; the diagnosis may be correct but the cure is simply utopia. No way can there be classless society and equality among men. When the proletariat as a class rises to power, the said class is led by an individual or groups who eventually dictate the directions of the class. They become the new ruling elite in place of the oligarchs. We have to admit, men are not born with equal attributes. Someone among us will rise to eminence.
I must admit though that Karl Marx has the best socio-structural analysis of modern society.
7. I take pride in having assembled the best writers of the school to compose the staff of the school paper. There was the selection board that conducted the oral and written exams to choose the editor-in-chief and the associate. But the rest of the staff was selected by me. There was Brady Eviota who initially studied in the University of the Philippines-Diliman, but had to trasfer to our school because he was already identified as leftist. He wrote literary pieces. After graduation, he pursued his writing career and went on to be the grand prize winner for the First Mindanao Writer's Workshop. (Incidentally, my eldest daughter and his were born on the same date and year). The associate editor, Celerina Rosales joined Malacanang Press Corp right after graduation. Rey Gomez, the features editor, bagged a journalism scholarship to Poland. Nilo Labares was the Visayan expert. He could write beautiful prose and poems in the dialect. He is now a known media practitioner in Cagayan de Oro City. There was also a writer we fondly called Red. He was a prolific writer. He was once with the underground movement. These staffers had a common battlecry : down with the dictator. These select students were virtually plucked out by me from their worlds. You see, prolific writers do not announce their brilliance. You have to seek for them.
2. I was 3rd year college when I became editor-in-chief of the CRUSADER, the official student publication of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan. That was school year 1984-1985. Rey Gomez, my features editor, decided to spend our semestral break in Libas, Jabonga, Agusan del Norte, my birthplace. The place was rebel infested then. So we wanted to have a feel of the rural situation for our write-up. On our way however, the public utility vehicle we were riding was stopped in one of the military checkpoints in Ampayon, a barangay just 15 kilometers away from Butuan City in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. All passengers were frisked. We were asked for any identification card or a residence certificate, but we had none. The vehicle was allowed to go but the two of us were detained in the checkpoint. When it was nearing night, I decided to use my thespian skill , otherwise, we would have become mere statistics along with the other victims of extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the military. I pleaded to a certain Capt. Ruaya that he should let us go because my grandfather died, so went my alibi. He did not believe me at first, but I shed a tear so he let us run away which we did, fearing that bullets might be following us.
In a twist of fate , sometime in 1997, a certain Capt. Ruaya came to our law firm in Butuan City for a legal consultation. He was the respondent in an administrative case. Immediately, I told him if he recognized me, but he shook his head. I told him of the incident, and I advised him to seek another lawyer lest I might be tainted with bias.
3. The killings, and ham-letting of villages were knocking at the doorsteps of the university gates. Student leadership meant social involvement. The economy was bad. Human rights abuses were rampant. Student leaders simply had to be militants. I decided to lead the students in Cagayan de Oro to rallies, pickets, and civil disobedience. The student paper then had a circulation of about 6,000 per issue, the biggest in Cagayan de Oro. The school paper was my medium. I networked with the other editors of school publications to organize the students into protest actions. I recall that on November 1985, for the first time since the proclamation of Martial Law on September 21, 1972, students of our school went outside the gates, and proceeded to other schools where other students were waiting to join us. That was the start of rallies that culminated on February 22, 1986, the last rally I led and participated. Three days after, on February 25, 1986, Marcos fled the country.
Another twist of fate though deserves mentioning. When I joined the fraternity in the College of Law, a brother who is already a major in the police, told me that my picture was one of those posted, that whenever they decided to "salvage" (a misnomer for killing militants), they take a picture from those posted. The next day, the body would be found somewhere.
4. It was sometime in October 1985 when I joined the journalism seminar in Davao City sponsored by the College Editor's Guild of the Philippines, said to be a front of the communist party. I arrived in the University of Mindanao, Davao City at three in the afternoon. But the host told me that we had to wait for the other delegates from Manila, particularly Ateneo de Manila. It was already around 9:00 o'clock in the evening when we were herded into a bus bound for the seminar site. On our way, we were stopped by the men in uniforms whom I knew later on to be communists guerrillas. When we arrived at the seminar site, we were greeted with staccato bursts of gunfire. I realized that we were already in the rebel's lair. The seminar was a mix of journalism and indoctrination.
5. For the school year 1986-1987, I was already enrolled in the College of law. My staff in the Crusader convinced me to take the editorial exam again so that I would remain as editor but they would do all the odd jobs while I concentrate in my law studies. My role then would be merely supervisory. I did continue as editor and entrusted the odd duties to my staff. But when the first issue for that school year came out, somebody inserted in the school paper a manifesto of the Kilusang Kabataan, the communist arm for the youth, calling for the bearing of arms. I resigned and had the whole thing investigated. It turned out that one of my section editors was a member of the communist movement and he went into hiding. I have not heard of him since then.
6. I was invited, urged, and cajoled by the militant left to join the movement. But I had not and will never be convinced with communist ideology. I have read and thoroughly studied the predecessors of Karl Marx. I understood the strength of the social analysis; the diagnosis may be correct but the cure is simply utopia. No way can there be classless society and equality among men. When the proletariat as a class rises to power, the said class is led by an individual or groups who eventually dictate the directions of the class. They become the new ruling elite in place of the oligarchs. We have to admit, men are not born with equal attributes. Someone among us will rise to eminence.
I must admit though that Karl Marx has the best socio-structural analysis of modern society.
7. I take pride in having assembled the best writers of the school to compose the staff of the school paper. There was the selection board that conducted the oral and written exams to choose the editor-in-chief and the associate. But the rest of the staff was selected by me. There was Brady Eviota who initially studied in the University of the Philippines-Diliman, but had to trasfer to our school because he was already identified as leftist. He wrote literary pieces. After graduation, he pursued his writing career and went on to be the grand prize winner for the First Mindanao Writer's Workshop. (Incidentally, my eldest daughter and his were born on the same date and year). The associate editor, Celerina Rosales joined Malacanang Press Corp right after graduation. Rey Gomez, the features editor, bagged a journalism scholarship to Poland. Nilo Labares was the Visayan expert. He could write beautiful prose and poems in the dialect. He is now a known media practitioner in Cagayan de Oro City. There was also a writer we fondly called Red. He was a prolific writer. He was once with the underground movement. These staffers had a common battlecry : down with the dictator. These select students were virtually plucked out by me from their worlds. You see, prolific writers do not announce their brilliance. You have to seek for them.
8. By April 1986, Malacanang Palace , the official residence of the president and his family, was open house. I was eager to see what the seat of power looked like while the entire nation was living in constant fear and poverty. Palace is always a palace. But this was unique. There was one room where the noted 2,000 pairs of Imelda Marcos was stored. The room for the first lady was perfumed garden. Big bottles of perfume were left by the first lady. She could bathe everyday with those perfumes. In contrast, Ferdinand Marcos' room was reeking with medicines. It was a virtual clinic. Ah, there was the mural of the first couple known as the "Malakas at Maganda" ( The Strong and Beautiful), of the Philippine mythology. Unlike the myth , the first couple pretensions to eternal power and beauty had to break in the onslaught of the people's revolt.
9. The university is a microcosm of the society. The political firmament was felt in the campuses. After the proclamation of martial law, student governments and student newspapers were banned. In 1983, together with the radicals among the students, I joined the campaign to form the student government. The school administration vehemently opposed. There were student leaders who sided with the school administrators. But we prevailed despite that we received all forms of harassment including that coming from the military. To my suprise, my schoolmate in high school and classmate in college who opposed the formation of the student govenrment run and won the presidency. The similaries with real politik are evident.
10. If there is any one who prevailed on me not to go underground, t'was my mother. One time, as I went up the stage during a rally, I saw her in a corner shedding tears. She knew then that student activists had been "salvaged". There were brilliant students I know who joined the communist's movement. Most have been unheard of since then.
11. If anything at all, the greatest contribution of the Filipino race to modern history is the EDSA people's revolt. It was the most peaceful revolution. The same method was emulated to break the Berlin wall, to dislodge Romanian dictator Caecescu, and the liberation of the great part of Eastern European nations which used to be part of the iron curtain. As for me, the period of martial law and my involvement in that era has fortified my critical analysis in a given situation, and to form the best response thereto. I could not help but write about vignettes of that era.
9. The university is a microcosm of the society. The political firmament was felt in the campuses. After the proclamation of martial law, student governments and student newspapers were banned. In 1983, together with the radicals among the students, I joined the campaign to form the student government. The school administration vehemently opposed. There were student leaders who sided with the school administrators. But we prevailed despite that we received all forms of harassment including that coming from the military. To my suprise, my schoolmate in high school and classmate in college who opposed the formation of the student govenrment run and won the presidency. The similaries with real politik are evident.
10. If there is any one who prevailed on me not to go underground, t'was my mother. One time, as I went up the stage during a rally, I saw her in a corner shedding tears. She knew then that student activists had been "salvaged". There were brilliant students I know who joined the communist's movement. Most have been unheard of since then.
11. If anything at all, the greatest contribution of the Filipino race to modern history is the EDSA people's revolt. It was the most peaceful revolution. The same method was emulated to break the Berlin wall, to dislodge Romanian dictator Caecescu, and the liberation of the great part of Eastern European nations which used to be part of the iron curtain. As for me, the period of martial law and my involvement in that era has fortified my critical analysis in a given situation, and to form the best response thereto. I could not help but write about vignettes of that era.
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